A hospital has refused a request to administer euthanasia to a 33-year-old in Mianyang, Sichuan Province school teacher, reports Huaxi Metro News.

Tang Yun, who taught Chinese at the Mianyang No 1 Middle School, was diagnosed with cirrhosis of the liver in 1999 and has been hospitalized six times as the disease has worsened.

Knowing that he will never recover or return to the lecture hall again, Tang asked doctors to do him a favour by ending his life.

"I want to live happily in the world. Now that living is worse than death, I would rather die with dignity," he said.

He added that he did not want his former students, some of whom now attend prestigious universities such as Tsinghua and Peking, to see his gaunt figure, nor did he want to continue to be a burden to his family, who have poured their life savings into paying for his treatment.

But Huaxi Hospital turned down his request, saying that the law did not expressly condone such a practice.

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